The Real IRA (Irish Republican Army) has claimed responsibility for the recent bombings in Northern Ireland, including two bombs in banks and one last week in Derry city.

The group also vowed to continue targeting the banking system, referring to bankers’ “greed”. This May, masked men threw a bag containing an explosive device into the Santander’s branch in Derry city. Also, this August, a bomb was thrown into a Santander bank, in Hill Street, Newry.

They said the bombings were meant “to send out the message that while the Irish national and class struggles are distinct, they are not separate."

Their statement said they had bombed Derry City’s office of the UK City of Culture as a symbolic gesture. They believe that having received the title of City of Culture is an underpinning of British rule in Ireland.

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Analysts have described the most recent warnings as the most bellicose yet. The group say they plan to bomb banks on both sides of the Irish Sea and border, Northern Ireland, and the Republic.

Their statement, reprinted in the Guardian, said, “The IRA has recently carried out a number of bomb attacks on the banking establishment…Such attacks are an integral part of our strategy of targeting the financial infrastructure that supports the British government's capitalist colonial system in Ireland,” adding, “The impetus to carry out this type of attack is directly linked to pressure from working-class communities in Ireland as a whole.”

"At a grassroots level, working-class communities are suffering most from the effects of cuts to essential services and poverty is now endemic. Families who have lost income as a result of the financial crisis - caused by the bankers - are being intimidated and some are being evicted from their homes…The ruling class of bankers and politicians are disconnected from the consequences of their disastrous policies and decisions."